Multiple TRIP Career Paths

 

Is it right for me?

Being a trader, market/investments analyst, or risk manager requires the ability to make decisions quickly, and use strong reasoning and analysis skills. You should have a tolerance for risk and uncertainty, and be prepared to cope with both predictable and unpredictable outcomes. While an extremely enjoyable, challenging and lucrative career choice, those students wanting to be a part of TRIP must be willing to put in the time and effort to succeed. Most new graduates will start as an analyst and follow a variety of paths to manager or trader, depending on their personal goals and abilities.  Any or all of these roles are possibilities.

 

Financial/Market Analyst

  • Gather data on history and events that affect prices
  • Keep up to date with current events that might affect the industry
  • Create models and recommend trades

 

Risk Analyst/”Deals Desk” Analyst/Risk Manager

  • Review daily trades and update traders and management on net long or short positions and daily potential to lose money
  • Mark to Market positions for traders and the firm as a whole
  • Evaluate and measure business risks and then take action to control for those perceived risks
  • Often part of the compliance function, but also may be part of a specific business unit, such as securities trading desks or loan origination departments
  • Must analyze data and take decisive action to safeguard the company from overexposure to market threats

 

Investment Analyst

  • Tracks pricing movements, changes in the economic environment, and values of current investments.
  • Use analysis to advise on current and future investment opportunities that may present themselves in the economy
  • Studies information to draw conclusions about the future of a company or industry using macroeconomic or microeconomic indicators

 

Scheduler or Operations

  • Responsible for insuring physical commodity trades can actually take place by getting the product and the logistics (pipe, train, ship, trucks) to the right place at the right time
  • Interact with both own companies trade floor and customers’ schedulers and operations personnel

 

Futures Trader

  • Traders may work for brokerage, asset management or energy firms and may be involved in hedging practices to minimize risk for the company
  • Buys and sells equities or commodities (oil, natural gas, diesel, gasoline, electricity) to create value for the firm
  • Use quantitative modeling processes and forecasting tools to assemble data used in the decision-making process; traders must then use this data to make informed decisions about the future of the markets.

 

Physical Trader/Origination Manager

  • Relationship based
  • Finding companies that have what you need or want what you have
  • Constant interaction with other traders, schedulers, brokers, market analysts
  • Dynamic, constantly changing markets

 

Other Common Paths

  • Energy Private Equity or Investment Banking Firms
  • Energy Consulting Firms